Job-search terms explained

Software employers use to receive, store, search and manage applications. Most systems parse the resume into fields and let recruiters search and filter; whether a system scores or ranks candidates depends on the employer's configuration, and no outside tool can see those settings. Luceria's ATS check applies its own published rules, not an employer's.

• What is an ATS?
• How ATS scoring works

A period without paid employment, for any reason. On a resume it is best stated as a dated entry with a brief description, so the chronology stays complete; removed dates are noticed and read worse than the break.

• Explaining a resume gap
• Returning-to-work template

An interview built around questions that ask for past examples of defined behaviours (teamwork, problem solving, leadership), often scored against a framework. Preparation means having five or six true stories ready that each cover several competencies.

• Competency-based interviews
• Evidence bank workbook

A job offer that depends on checks being completed: references, right to work, qualifications, sometimes a criminal-record or background check. In the UK, a verified employer can request right-to-work evidence earlier in recruitment, even before interview. In the US, Form I-9 follows an accepted offer. Confirm the employer and secure channel before sharing documents at any stage.

• Reading a job offer letter
• Reference checks explained
• UK right-to-work guidance

A one-page letter that connects your evidence to the employer's stated requirements and says why this employer specifically. It is not a summary of the resume. Some application systems do not pass letters to recruiters; the guide on whether ATS read cover letters explains how to tell.

• Cover letter framework
• Do ATS read cover letters?

Luceria's comparison of a resume with a specific role using ATS, keyword, evidence and suitability signals, with hard requirements kept separate. Free accounts get the deterministic ATS and keyword half; the suitability analysis is part of the paid plans. It is a preparation estimate, not an employer verdict.

• Fit Check
• ATS check vs Fit Check

A condition the employer treats as non-negotiable: a licence, registration, qualification, legal right to work or a minimum level of experience. Luceria's ATS engine checks these deterministically and an unmet one lowers the score sharply. Preferences and desirable criteria are different; they can be offset by other strengths.

• Knockout questions
• Certifications and licences

A conversation you request with someone doing a job or working in a field you are considering, to learn rather than to ask for a job. It is one of the most reliable ways to test a career change before committing to it.

• Informational interviews
• Choosing a new career

The overlap between the words a job advert uses for skills, tools and requirements and the words in a resume. It matters because recruiters search and filter by those terms. Matching is only useful when the words are backed by genuine evidence; a list of unsupported keywords fails at interview.

• Resume keywords
• Map requirements to your evidence

An application-form question whose answer automatically ends the application, typically on legal right to work, a required licence or willingness to meet a fixed condition. They are a configured filter, not an assessment of quality, and answering honestly is the only option.

• Knockout questions
• Online application portals

The complete, untailored record of everything you have done, kept separately from the versions you send. Each application takes a tailored copy from it. Luceria keeps the source document unchanged and saves tailored drafts separately for the same reason.

• Keeping a master resume
• Documents in Luceria

The time between resigning and leaving, set by your contract or statutory minimums. It affects when you can start a new role; state it plainly when asked and negotiate a start date in writing after an offer.

• Negotiating a start date
• Resignation letter

How reliably a document's text can be extracted in the right order by software. Single columns, standard headings and real text parse well; tables, text boxes, columns, headers and images often do not. It is a property of the file, independent of what the content says.

• See what a parser reads from your file
• Tables, columns and graphics

A list, common in UK public-sector and larger-employer adverts, of the knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours required, usually split into essential and desirable. Applications are often scored line by line against it, so supporting statements should address each essential point with evidence.

• Supporting statements
• Breakdown worksheet

An initial period in a new job, often three to six months, during which either side can end the contract on shorter notice and the employer reviews performance. Terms vary; read them in the offer letter before accepting.

• Your first 90 days
• Offer comparison workbook

An agency finds candidates for employers and may represent you to several of them; an in-house recruiter works for one employer. In Great Britain, employment agencies generally cannot charge work-seekers a fee for finding work, subject to narrow entertainment and modelling exceptions. Check any proposed fee against official rules and verify the recruiter independently. Follow-ups usually go through whoever introduced you.

• Working with recruitment agencies
• Check a recruiter is real
• Great Britain agency conduct rules

The standard format: most recent role first, with achievements listed under each role. It is what most recruiters and parsing systems expect. Variants exist for career changes (skills-led), first jobs (education-led) and senior roles (summary-led), but all keep dated roles visible.

• Which format suits you?
• Chronological template

A check that someone may legally work in the country. UK employers must check before employment and may request evidence during recruitment; the US Form I-9 process follows an accepted job offer. Verify the employer and use its secure channel before sharing identity documents.

• Which personal details to share, and when
• Verification checklist
• UK right-to-work guidance
• US Form I-9 employer guidance

A short first conversation, usually with a recruiter, to confirm basics: interest, availability, salary range, location and whether the resume is accurate. It is an interview in all but name; prepare the same evidence and questions.

• Phone screening interviews
• What happens after you apply

A format that groups evidence under skill or requirement headings before a compact dated history. Used for career changes so transferable evidence leads. It differs from a purely functional resume, which drops dates and employers and is widely distrusted.

• Career change resume structure
• Career-change template

An application to an employer that has not advertised a vacancy, usually a short letter or email with a resume. It works best with a specific reason for approaching that employer and a clear ask (a conversation, or to be considered when a role opens).

• Speculative applications
• Finding unadvertised roles

A structure for answering competency questions with a real example: brief context, your responsibility, what you did step by step, and what happened. The action should take most of the answer. CAR and SOAR are near-identical variants.

• The STAR method
• STAR planner

A written answer, usually in a UK application form, showing how you meet each point of the person specification. Unlike a cover letter it is often scored line by line, so structure follows the specification's order and each point gets evidence.

• Supporting statements against a person specification
• Application forms vs resumes

Selecting and reordering a resume's genuine evidence so the most relevant parts for one specific job are visible first, using the employer's language where it is true. Tailoring changes emphasis, not facts; adding experience, results or tools you do not have is fabrication, not tailoring.

• How to tailor a resume
• Resume tailoring in Luceria

A capability demonstrated in one setting that applies in another: coordinating people under time pressure, reconciling records accurately, explaining technical detail plainly. It becomes persuasive only with the evidence that shows it, which is why career-change resumes group examples under the new role's requirements.

• Transferable skills examples
• Career-change resume template

Luceria's opportunity-verification tools: an unmetered public-record check that queries official company registers without generative AI, and a separately metered AI review of company, website and recruiter signals, tuned for the UK for now. Both surface evidence and warning signs; neither certifies that an opportunity is safe.

• Luceria Verify
• Public check vs AI review